Transformation of "slimming water", with a monthly sales of 100 million, is the new coffee outlet a "functional upgrade"?
Why do you drink coffee?
If you are reading this tweet at 8 a.m. on the daily release time of the Foodaily public account, then your reason may be "refreshing" and "working to continue your life".
With the rapid development of the coffee industry and the evolution of audiences, many people say that they drink coffee because they "enjoy the flavor".
However, the most popular character of coffee may be "diet water".
According to Cicada Cube data, in the third quarter of 2024, the sales of the "instant coffee/coffee beans/powder" category (hereinafter referred to as "coffee category") on the Douyin e-commerce platform exceeded 1.2 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of more than 66.84%; Among them, from the perspective of sales, the selling points of the ingredients with the largest market size are 0 fat, 0 sucrose, and ketogen, and the sales of low-fat, protein energy, probiotics, white kidney beans and other selling points also rank high, all of which are related to weight management.
The track is hot, and there are also many brands that rely on the combination of "coffee + weight management" to soar in sales, and some brands have been on the TOP2 of the Douyin category within one year of their establishment, selling 100 million; Some brands have even exceeded 100 million in sales in a single month in April 2024......
Why can coffee squeeze into the weight management track? Who is making money by creating a "diet water" persona for coffee?
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"Weight management artifact", why does
coffee take the "weight loss water" character design?
"Breakfast every day with a cup of black coffee, which I learned from my model girlfriend."
"Just this cup of coffee, the savior of fat loss people! With it, it's smoother every day, and the sisters who still want to manage their bodies don't have to worry about sweets~"
"A drink in the morning can fight hunger and avoid overeating."
"One cup of calories is only 6.3 kcal! Quack and drink during the self-discipline period! "
Are you familiar with these business words?
It's no wonder that brand merchants are eyeing coffee, which is not only the hottest and highly repurchased beverage in recent years, but also a weight management drink "holy body" in terms of ingredients.
Humans have not only been obsessed with the taste of coffee for thousands of years, but have also studied the nutritional and medicinal properties of the natural ingredients in coffee throughout this long history. Among them, caffeine, which has attracted the most attention and is widely known, not only has a refreshing effect, but also shows "talent" in weight management.
Many studies at home and abroad have shown that caffeine can promote energy expenditure through a variety of mechanisms. On the one hand, caffeine can increase the body's energy expenditure by increasing thermogenesis, and on the other hand, caffeine can also stimulate the central nervous system and promote fat oxidation, thereby increasing the level of human metabolism.
Plus, the caffeine boost can help you exercise longer. A study in the Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition showed that drinking a cup of strong coffee half an hour before aerobic exercise improved exercise endurance and overall fitness, prolonged exercise, and thus increased calorie consumption during exercise.
At the same time, caffeine is also a natural "diuretic", which helps to reduce water retention in the body and improve physiological edema, which also makes coffee a savior for many edema stars.
"Promoting bowel movements" is also often highly related to weight loss mentality, and has led to the popularity of prunes, oranges, probiotics and other "puff artifacts". Coffee is also at the top of the list of puff goodies, which is also due to the stimulation of caffeine. Although it is not effective for everyone, there are still many netizens who say that "the end of laxative is coffee", and some netizens evaluate and share which coffee of each brand has the best effect on promoting drainage.
Caffeine can also suppress appetite to a certain extent, leading to a decrease in the amount of food eaten after drinking coffee, so many people look forward to drinking coffee to control their food intake and assist in weight management.
There is also a treasure natural ingredient in coffee – chlorogenic acid.
The content of chlorogenic acid in green coffee was significant, and the content gradually decreased with the increase of roasting degree.
Although its attention is not as good as that of caffeine, relevant studies have shown that chlorogenic acid not only gives coffee some unique flavors, but also has a variety of effects such as antihypertensive, choleretic, anti-diabetic, neuroprotective, antioxidant, and reducing belly fat in overweight adults.
Therefore, chlorogenic acid is widely used in many fields such as food and beverage, health care products, medicine, etc., such as the "2025-2030 China Chlorogenic Acid Market Special Research and Market Prospect Forecast Evaluation Report" shows that chlorogenic acid is favored by consumers as a nutritional supplement and health care product, and is also used as a highlight addition ingredient in food and beverage to improve the nutritional value and health benefits of products.
From the perspective of the global market, China, North America, Europe, Japan, India and other regions are all important markets for chlorogenic acid. There are brands that sell pure green coffee directly, and there are also brands that add chlorogenic acid as a natural antioxidant to weight loss products and hypoglycemic health products.
For example, Ogaland, a supplement brand that has won the best store on Rakuten Shopping in Japan for 10 consecutive years, has launched a green coffee chlorogenic acid supplement, which claims to support the body's calorie "burning system" and is recommended for those who want to burn fat and lose weight in a healthy way.
Of course, even if the function of these natural ingredients is put aside, a cup of pure black coffee itself is extremely low in calories, usually between 2~5 kcal, and has a strong flavor, which is indeed an ideal drink for people with weight management.
In general, the root of weight management is to "keep your mouth shut and open your legs", and coffee is indeed gifted in helping this process, which makes it have the basic literacy to maintain weight balance and assist weight management, and it also makes it more logical for brand merchants to create coffee "weight loss water" characters.
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Who is making money from coffee's "weight loss water" persona?
With the rapid development of the coffee industry and the increase in the penetration rate of freshly ground coffee, instant coffee is often placed at the end of the chain of coffee drinking, and some people even say that sooner or later instant coffee will be eliminated.
Is that really the case? Some netizens posted a question on the social media platform: "In the era of 9.9 yuan coffee everywhere, will instant coffee be eliminated?" Many netizens in the comment area said, "Who said that cheap freshly ground can kill instant?" "With so many advantages, such as cheap price, easy to use, brand protection, and continuous iteration of taste, I believe that instant coffee will always have a place in the market."
Cheaper than 9.9, you don't have to wait to drink it if you want to, you can drink it anywhere, and the flavor quality continues to improve with the iteration of technology, which allows instant coffee to always retain its audience.
However, what is even more exciting is its positioning as "weight loss water".
According to the data of the "2024 Online Consumption and Industry Insights of Coffee Category" jointly produced by Feigua Data × Feigua Pince, from the perspective of purchase motivation, "fitness and weight loss" is the second most important purchase factor. From the perspective of usage scenarios, more than half of consumers buy coffee products for weight loss, sports and fitness.
Therefore, many brands take meal replacement, card control, and multi-bottle hoarding as the main promotional selling points when promoting their products, cut into the coffee market, and have achieved explosive growth.
Among the top 10 brands in the coffee category in the first half of 2024, taking Muscle Unicorn and Shark Fit as examples, both brands are positioned in the light meal replacement track, but by focusing on the fat reduction meal replacement needs of weight management people, they have expanded to the black coffee category, quickly entered the Douyin coffee store list, and maintained double-digit growth.
In the live broadcast room, American black coffee is not only the most basic and classic instant coffee, but a light drink with 0 fat and 0 sucrose, freshly roasted, and a light and happy water with scientific control, "During the weight management period, you can drink it every day" "One cup in the morning to drive the body to work, one cup half an hour before the meal to reduce our desire for food" "Stick to punching in for a month, I see that the pants you bought before have to be thrown away".
However, the daily intake of pure black coffee is limited after all, and there are always people who are looking for more efficient products.
Therefore, many brands will launch "coffee+" type of "fortified products", using white kidney beans, prunes, corn silk, mulberry leaf extract, MCT oil, diglycerides, and cinnamon and other superfoods to pair coffee with coffee to further strengthen the stickiness of the weight management scene.
The phenomenal popular coffee brand POSITIVE HOTEL has anchored the "Mediterranean Coffee", with black coffee + selected ingredients as the basic formula, and launched a product portfolio such as green burning black coffee, raw cocoa black coffee, Ceylon cinnamon black coffee, etc., and has recently made new adjustments in flavor and launched a new lemon bara black coffee in spring.
Different combinations have different weight management support mechanisms. In order to make it easier for consumers to understand how to drink black coffee more "effectively", POSITIVE HOTEL has designed the product concept, drinking scene, and product portfolio.
For example, green burning black coffee, lemon bala black coffee and other products are "sports pairs", mainly using the characteristics of chlorogenic acid to help the calorie burning effect of "stepping legs", "replacing sedentary babies who have no time to exercise, and can't control their small mouths to run".
Ceylon cinnamon and turmeric not only provide a unique flavor but also help to "lower your cravings", while raw cocoa is more filling and indirectly helps you eat less.
FITO, which is positioned as functional coffee, has directly played the bright card of "black coffee + functional ingredients", and pays more attention to emphasizing the addition of functional ingredients such as "super-burning star ingredients".
After its establishment in 2023, the brand was established in September to launch its first product, FITO Burning Coffee, focusing on the concept of "burning", also adding Ceylon cinnamon and turmeric on the basis of black coffee, and the product page introduces the "Golden Triangle" formula with "3 super-burning ingredients", with this single product, sales in the fourth quarter of 2023 exceeded 20 million.
With the addition of natural ingredients and functional ingredients of coffee, the brand starts from different weight loss mechanisms, binds functional needs such as improving energy consumption and controlling appetite, so that the drinking scene of "one cup in the morning, one cup at noon" and the high drinking frequency of "continuous persistence to see the effect" are more rationalized.
Anchoring the weight management pan-population, it also allows coffee consumption to further break the circle from the people who appeal to refreshing functions and those who have taste preferences, forming a broader audience base.
3
summary
As we all know, although there are endless weight management theories and products on the market, the core principle of weight loss is always the same: intake < consumption, creating a calorie gap. </b10>
However, creating a calorie deficit is not an easy task for many people, and it is difficult to sit down soon in work and lifestyle, and it is even more difficult to have the energy to exercise after work, and want to control your mouth, but food is the most convenient spiritual comfort...... This is a portrayal of the real life of many people.
Because of this, most people often want to find a "helper" and a "pusher" on the road of weight management, so that they can achieve the goal of weight management more easily.
This psychological appeal has not only brought fire to the "coffee + weight management" track, but also to 0 sugar and 0 fat, light food, low GI, blood sugar friendly, healthy lifestyle brands, probiotics, and functional ingredient assistance...... and a series of food and drink tracks.
With the National Health Commission proposing to implement the three-year action of "Weight Management Year", the attention of consumers and the industry to the weight management track has been raised to a new height.
Based on this hot spot in the industry, Foodaily has launched a series of special plans for the "Year of Weight Management".
At the Foodaily Global Food & Beverage Innovation Expo & Daily Trendy Food Festival ("2025 Foodaily Expo"), which just ended from March 30 to April 2, 2025, we have launched a series of special planning activities around the theme of "weight management".
At the scene, many industry experts, such as the founder of Dukan in France and the creator of Dukan Slim Diet Method, the vice president of Moon Biologics, the CEO of Savage Diary, and the head of the probiotics R&D team of Jinqi Biology, came to the forum to share the innovation trends of weight management, as well as the on-site tasting and product interpretation of more than 70 overseas innovative products related to weight management selected by the Foodaily Research Institute. In addition, we also joined hands with Jinqi Biotech to hold an in-depth "Innovation Journey" event on the topic of weight management on March 31, which deeply analyzed the global trend and practical application of probiotics in the weight management track.
At the Expo, the weight management series was well received by all parties, and we also felt that the industry paid great attention to weight management-related topics. Therefore, Foodaily will open the second wave of "Weight Management Year" special planning activities, taking everyone to discuss the popular categories of weight management, successful brand practices, and innovative solutions, and discuss new growth opportunities with the industry!